Simone Bitton was born in Morocco in 1955. She is both an Israeli and a French citizen and also considers herself as a Moroccan national and an Arab Jew. She graduated from the French Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinematographiques (IDHEC) in 1981 and directed more than 15 documentary films.
Her work varies in style from historical inquiries to first-hand reportages and intimate portraits of cutting-edge authors, artists, and political figures. All of her films attest to her deep personal and professional commitment to better representing the complex histories and cultures of the Middle East and North Africa. Several of her works have been broadcast simultaneously on European, Arab, and Israeli television and engendered passionate debate on all sides of the Mid-East conflict.
Simone Bitton’s films have won numerous awards, including the Sundance Film Festival, Special Jury Prize and the Cesear Award for WALL, among many others.
